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More Examples of Why I Get That Way

Let’s see, there’s Maxim’s Fatty or Farm Animal? slideshow: “See if you can tell the difference between fat people and some of Old McDonald’s favorite friends!” Is it a fat woman or a nursing sow? WHO CAN TELL?

I don’t recall Old McDonald having hippos or Shar Peis, by the way, but mmkay. E-I-E-I-O, assholes.

Then there’s the Facebook group called “All Fat Chicks Stay at Home… That’s an Order!” I’m not linking to it, because A) I don’t want to drive traffic there, B) you need a Facebook account to view it, C) with any luck, it’ll be shut down pretty soon; I found out about it on a fat acceptance community, and several people there have already reported it as violating the Facebook TOS.

But let’s have a look at the “rules for fat chicks,” shall we?

1. If you are classified as a ´fat chick´then you must stay inside your home until the wieght is lost and you are no longer a disgusting blob of offensive blubber.

4. During a `fat chick´s´ time at home she must have the curtains closed at all times so that no person from the general public will be offended if they accidently look through the `fat chicks` window.

5. Upon being classified as a `fat chick` you will be administered with a special scale that you must use daily, only when this scale accepts your body/fat ratio as acceptable can you apply for freedom from your home (this application must be sent to the appropriate agent on your area and may take 2-5 weeks to be processed)

6. Upon being given freedom from you home you must attend regular fat tests every week for up to a year, this is similar to probation from prison but if it is found that you have regained the weight you will not only be sent back to your home, you will also be shot in both feet.

9. `Fat Chicks` are banned from having sex….period!

10. `Fat Chicks` are banned from having children as they may turn out to be fat themselves and if that is the case they will be gased.

11. If a ´Fat Chick`is ill and needs to go to hospital im afraid thats just too bad…NO ambulances shall be sent!!!

12. If a ´fat chick` is married her husband is just as much to blame for letting his women turn herself into such a gross mess, therefore all ´fat chick`rules shall apply to the husband unless he agrees immediately for a divorce (in the case of divorce the ´fat chick`recieves nothing and must be moved to a ´fat chick`detention center as she will no longer have a home to stay in.

13. If a girl is on the verge of being a ´fat chick`she must be cautious as if he mannerisms appear ´fat chick`like (i.e she wears tight cloths that look unnatractive and is loud and annoying) then any person of the public can call the police and have her arrested and sent to court where she will be trialled and possibly given the status of ´fat chick`and immediately sent home.

15. Anyone who is friends with a ´fat chick`may be punished if they visit the ´fat chick`at home for any reason other than to check if they are still alive.

16. While at home ´fat chicks`are not allowed to eat anything, they may only consume tap water. This is to ensure that they lose weight and become acceptable to society.

17. ´Fat chicks`cant vote.

Emphasis mine. Also, one great big blanket “[sic].”

Given the source, I understand that this is hardly worth commenting on. It’s some idiot teenager who doesn’t even know how to run spell check and most likely created this page because he can’t cope with the cognitive dissonance that occurs when he sees fat-chick cleavage and pops wood. I get that. Also, it’s a “joke.” I get that, too.

But it’s a joke only insofar as it’s obviously over the top, and these “rules” are unenforceable. The disgust, misogyny*, and violent impulses underneath are real–not just in this dickhead’s tiny brain, but in a lot of people’s. This is an extreme version of the message fat people get all the time, in subtle and shockingly unsubtle ways: Your mere existence is offensive to polite society. How dare you move among us as if you belong?

One of the hardest aspects of accepting my body as-is has been fighting the deeply ingrained belief that it somehow hurts other people if I don’t do everything in my power to cover my fat. That if I wear a tank top on a 95-degree day, or yoga pants to yoga class, or–gasp–a bathing suit on the beach, I am in egregious violation of the social contract. I am doing something offensive. If I must do it–and really, there’s no good reason why I must, is there?–I am ethically obligated to feel ashamed, self-conscious, self-loathing.

That’s not just a personal hang-up. It’s part and parcel of the way girls are socialized to believe we owe the world the pretty at all times, under all circumstances. Most thin women probably don’t think twice about tank tops, but how many can throw on a bathing suit and hit the beach with the confidence and sense of joy they had in the same situation when they were kids–even kids with round bellies and chubby legs? I can think of one I know, maybe, and I’d have to ask her if that’s actually true, or just me projecting. We’re taught–indoctrinated–to believe that any hint of fat is disgusting; that adult female bodies in general are dangerous and shameful; that we must make every effort to conform to a narrow beauty standard–and even if we do, that we’ll be ostracized and ridiculed to whatever extent we fall short of the mark. It’s a wonder we can bring ourselves to leave the house at all.

And there really are people who’d prefer that we didn’t.

*”This could also go for guys as well but my experince of fat guys is that they dont normally wear stupid tight cloths and think they are sexy like stupid fat slags do. So therefore the rule is void on men.”